Quarrying and its effect on vegetation cover for a sustainable development using high-resolution satellite image and GIS

Huge vegetal losses caused by unsustainable quarrying practices have limited the role played by vegetation cover in mitigating the global impact of climate change. There is a need for a holistic study that will employ remotely sensed data in GIS domain to determine the extent of the effect of quarrying activities on vegetation cover in the study area. The need for extraordinary details with high accuracy and enhanced imagery has necessitated the use of Geo-Eye-1 satellite imagery with 1-m resolution for 2015. The study was carried out in Ebonyi State where 27 quarry sites were studied in six local government areas where mining activities were operated. The study employed geographical information system, Garmin eTrex GPS receiver and global positioning system. Geographical information was processed using ArcGIS to map the patterns and extent of land use. The findings from the study showed that the visual interpretation of the satellite image confirmed that white patches on the imagery were areas affected by intensified quarrying activities. The very dark green colours were interpreted as forest with no observed human activities. The supervised classification of land use also showed that quarrying activities occupied 0.1% of the study area with a total of 402.855 ha of green cover lost in Ebonyi State due to quarrying operations. Quarrying practices have destroyed arable lands, economic trees and forests in the area. This implies that there is a need for policies to be enforced with strict adherence to sustainable quarrying guidelines and consistent monitoring.